Abstract

Objective

To determine whether the amount of tagged stool and fluid significantly affects the radiation exposure in low-dose screening CT colonography performed with an automatic tube-current modulation technique.

Methods

The study included 311 patients. The tagging agent was barium (n = 271) or iodine (n = 40). Correlation was measured between mean volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and the estimated x-ray attenuation of the tagged stool and fluid (ATT). Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to determine the effect of ATT on CTDIvol and the effect of ATT on image noise while adjusting for other variables including abdominal circumference.

Results

CTDIvol varied from 0.88 to 2.54 mGy. There was no significant correlation between CTDIvol and ATT (p = 0.61). ATT did not significantly affect CTDIvol (p = 0.93), while abdominal circumference was the only factor significantly affecting CTDIvol (p < 0.001). Image noise ranged from 59.5 to 64.1 HU. The p value for the regression model explaining the noise was 0.38.

Conclusion

The amount of stool and fluid tagging does not significantly affect radiation exposure.